THE VALUE OF THE IBIS 



BY W. H. D. LeSOEUF, 



DIRECTOR, MELBOURNE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS 



IT is interesting to know that the ibis are found over 

 the world and there are no more valuable birds than 

 they. This was fully recognized by the ancient 

 Egyptians, and there they looked upon them as sacred 

 and mummified their bodies three thousand years ago 

 and over. A closely allied bird is found in Australia, in 



STRAW-NECKED IBIS NESTING. THEY CONGREGATE IN IMMENSE ROOKERIES IN SWAMP 

 LAND TO LAST OUT THE NESTING SEASON 



conjunction with another variety, the straw-necked ibis, 

 as well as a few of the glossy ibis. The two former 

 birds exist in great numbers over the island continent and 

 their value to agriculturists cannot well be overestimated. 



They congregate in immense rookeries in suitable 

 localities during the nesting season, when the wet season 

 has been good and the swamps 

 have sufficient water to last out 

 the nesting period, as many of 

 them dry up by the end of the 

 summer. Not long ago the birds 

 misjudged the amount of water 

 and the swamp dried up before 

 the nesting was completed. The 

 adult birds then left in a body 

 and the crows and similar birds 

 had a high time living on the 

 deserted ibis eggs, but such a. 

 catastrophe does not often 

 happen. 



Not long ago, I visited Riveri- 

 na, in New South Wales, with 

 Major-General Sir Charles S. 

 Ryan. We found the ibis nest- 

 ing ma swamp of about 500 

 acres and covered with lignum 



bushes, the water was about three feet deep. We con- 

 sidered that there were about 200,000 ibis nesting there. 

 In the centre of the swamp young birds were nearly 

 able to fly, and fresh eggs were found on the outskirts, 

 the whole host of birds was made up of varying sized 

 companies, say from twenty pairs to one pair, and they 

 arrived at different times. We 

 shot a few of the birds and 

 counted and weighed the con- 

 tents of their stomachs. Their 

 food consisted largely of young 

 grasshoppers, with a few grubs, 

 centipedes and fresh-water snails 

 which latter are the host of 

 liver fluke. We reckoned that 

 the whole company of birds took 

 every day the large total of about 

 482 millions of grasshoppers, as 

 well as various other insects, and 

 also that the total weight of the 

 contents of their crops came to 

 25 tons. These figures are dif- 

 ficult to realize and therefore we 

 can easily guess why the Egyp- 

 tians valued these birds so high- 

 ly. It is quite possible that the 

 grasshoppers were more abund- 

 ant than usual at the time of our visit, but that would 

 not alter the fact as to the value of the ibis. The locust 

 plague in Egypt is far more severe than we have in 

 Australia. 



The Egyptians also made their hawks, especially the 

 Kestrel, sacred and mummified them as well, and we 



NESTS OF STRAWNECKED IBIS AT "WIDGIEWA," RIVERNIA, NEW SOUTH WALES 



410 



